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Dose once, treat forever: drugs are being engineered to last much longer

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Medication that persists inside the body for months or years could transform the treatment and prevention of many conditions — especially in low- and middle-income countries.

By

  1. Ben Deighton

    1. Ben Deighton is a freelance writer based in London.

Thousands of tiny needles, each no more than a millimetre long, push through the skin. For an hour or so, they stay there, releasing a drug into the body until the needles dissolve.

Nature 657, S16-S18 (2026)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02660-9

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Drug delivery, a supplement produced with financial support from Taiho Oncology, Inc. Nature maintains full independence in all editorial decisions related to the content. About this content.

References

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